Does Parfits notion that psychological continuity without identity is the best way for understanding questions about identity help us understand who Leonard Shelby is?

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Philosophy 120
Extra Credit
Film: Memento
Up to 4 Points
Introduction:

In the paper, The Self and The Future, Bernard Williams presents two thought experiments. The first thought experimentthe body swapping scenariois intended to show that personal identity is constituted by psychological continuity, that what constitutes our identity is our capacity to remember experiences that we once had, or for some future person to remember the experiences that I now am currently having. Williams, however, presents a second thought experiment (a re-description of the first) that is intended to undermine this intuition, and suggests instead that personal identity is constituted by bodily continuity, that what constitutes our identity through time is the continuation of this very same physical body.

In his essay, “Personal Identity”, Derick Parfit takes a different approach than Williams, arguing that while some conception of psychological continuity can adequately handle most ordinary cases, certain other cases (i.e., fission) suggest that our conception of numerical identity is altogether inadequate. In such cases, we find that if our conception of psychological continuity presupposes numerical identity, we have no idea what to say. Parfit thinks that once we give up the notion of numerical identity, well be able to give an answer to such cases. What matters is not one-to-one relations, but rather, relations of degree. If we abandon one-to-one identity in favor of a conception of psychological continuity that comes in degrees, well be able to give an account of how the person who fissions goes on to survive as both the resulting persons, even though neither of those persons will be him. For Parfit, once we recognize that psychological continuity without identity is the best way for understanding whats happening in the case of fission, well also begin to see that this is a better way of understanding identity more generally. Well come to realize that our talk of identity need not imply a single underlying person who exists through the various stages of life.

Memento is a film by writer and director Christopher Nolan, which tracks the development of the protagonist, Leonard Shelby. Leonard is a former insurance investigator who now suffers from anterograde amnesia (a loss of the ability to form new memories) after having been attacked in his home by two intruders. Leonard tells us that his wife was killed in the attack, and that while one of the attackers was also killed, the other got away. Leonards mission is now to find the other killer and exact revenge; however, since Leonard cant form new memories, he has to rely on notes, Polaroid photos, and tattoos on his body, in order to track down the killer.

Note: The plot is in fact much more complicated than this, but Im going to leave that for you to uncover.

Objective:

This assignment will require you to provide a summary and an analysis of the film in light of the theories of identity we have covered so far in the course. By the end of the film, how should we understand who Leonard Shelby is? Should we think of the person at the beginning of the film as one and the same as the same person at the end of the film? Is Leonard Shelby’s (uh, Sammy Jenkins?) identity best understood from the view of psychological continuity or bodily continuity, or is it better understood if we drop the notion of numerical identity all together? If you think that either psychological continuity or bodily continuity best accounts for Leonard Shelby’s condition, give an argument for choosing one over the other. If you find neither of these options compelling, consider how Parfit answer this question. Does Parfits notion that psychological continuity without identity is the best way for understanding questions about identity help us understand who Leonard Shelby is? Is this a more accurate frame for understanding Leonards condition, and by extension, our own?

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